The Beginning of the End: Castiel's Story
by cas.in.the.impala
Summary: Castiel has lived a long, long life. Correction. HAD lived. In the afterlife, Castiel recalls the story of how he met the Winchesters, his time in heaven (and hell), how he saved and destroyed the world multiple times, and how he sacrificed himself for one man. Dean Winchester. *Destiel to come in the later chapters *Discontinued until further notice :( sorry
1. Burnt Wings

**Burnt Wings**

It was too late. I knew I wasn't going to get out. I knew that my last few minutes alive would be on that cold, wet floor of that horrible place. I couldn't move, heck, I could barely breathe. I was gasping for air and felt as if I couldn't catch my breath. An angel blade had pierced my side and broke off inside me earlier that day. It made its way to my heart. I could feel it scraping against my heart, slowly making its way inside. I lay there on the cold floor for what seemed like hours. In the distance I heard Dean's frantic, yet agonizing, voice calling out for me. His echoes, traveling through the dark, winding hallways of that horrible place. Eventually I saw him stumble around the corner, out of breath. Without seeing me, he sat down against the wall, buried his head in his hands, and started to sob. He then lifted his head and my blue eyes met his tear filled green ones. "Cas? CAS!" he yelled as he struggled to get up. Dean was practically ripped to shreds and was bleeding badly from his stomach. He slowly limped towards me while clutching his gut. Blood was pouring through his fingers. I could tell he was in agony. He had found me, but it was too late. Dean dropped to the floor next to me and cradled my head. He kept asking me if I was going to be okay. I already knew the answer. "I'm so sorry Cas. Don't leave me. Just please… don't die…" he'd say. I tried to tell him it was okay, but when I opened my mouth, no words came out. I remember taking my last breath. The angel blade had finally gone through my heart. I felt no more pain. I looked up at Dean with a soft, broken smile. "No. Not you too. Cas, don't you dare. Don't you leave me. Not now. Not after everything we've done." A single tear rolled down his cheek and landed on my face. I closed my eyes and with a blazing white light I died, only to leave behind my broken wings scarred onto the floor of that cold, damp hallway. Dean, in disbelief, reached out to touch the burnt wings, leaving his stomach to bleed out without the pressure of his hand. He collapsed onto them. We died in eachother's arms. And with the end, comes the beginning. This is my story.


	2. The Beginning

**The Beginning**

Some call it the Big Bang. Others call it the Creation. Me? I call it the beginning of the end. Because that's what it was. All beginnings have an end. This one just happened to last 7 billion years. When Dad decided to make the universe, my brothers and sisters were excited. But not me. I was sad, because one day, I knew the universe would end. I just didn't know that I would be the one to cause it.

As you all know, Lucifer was God's favorite. Well, that is until he told God that he loved him more than humanity. With that, he was thrown in the newly built Hell. Back then, it wasn't that bad. It was just a maze of rocky hallways (much like heaven's jail) where we sent angels who had to do penance for a few years. But after Cain killed Abel, well, we had to send the demons somewhere. And slowly it evolved from a quiet fortress to the fiery torture chamber everyone knew it as.

Now I saw a lot during my life. I saw the first fish crawl it's way onto the land. I saw when Cain killed Abel and the first demon. I saw the fall of the Tower of Babel. (It was only 50 feet tall, which I guess was impressive during that time). I saw the Great Flood. I saw everything that was. It all meant something to the other angels. But not to me. Or at least, not until I was sent on a mission to rescue a man by the name of Dean Winchester from Hell. He seemed so… ordinary. That confused me greatly. Why did heaven want me to save this man? What was so special about him? I soon found out that he was the most important man in the universe.

My garrison consisted of Anna, Samandriel, Uriel, Jeremiah, Hester, Inias, Bartholomew, and me. We had been together since our creation. Unsure of why God's orders consisted of saving this man, we did as we were told. All except Anna. Anna always had trouble believing in Dad's plan. She questioned every move we made. Eventually, she grew tired of the unknown purpose of the missions we were sent on. With that, she rebelled and was cast down from heaven. She was the first in 7 billion years to rebel. When Anna had done this, I knew something huge was about to happen. Something that would change the future as we knew it.

Hell had infinite levels. Each level slowly grew to have more and more suffering. Level 610 - 620 was for souls who committed murder, level 900 - 950 was for souls who were serial killers, and levels 200 - 300 were for souls who were sold in a demon deal. There were 100 levels because not every deal was the same. Some deals were to save their families (those souls were on level 200), some were to kill another person (ones like those were on level 290), and then there were deals to bring someone back from the dead. This type of deal was on level 240 - 250. There were 10 levels here because each soul had a different kind of desperation to bring back whoever it was that had died. The higher desperation, the lower you'd go. Dean Winchester was on level 250 because he was willing to shorten a 10 year deal to a 1 year deal to bring his little brother back from the dead. Because Dean was so far down in Hell, my garrison had to fight long and hard to get to him. The first of us to be killed was Jeremiah. We didn't realize, but a demon by the name of Orobas had stolen one of our spare angel blade and killed him. We decided to smite Orobas' army and himself for revenge. This conflict severely delayed us. Because of this, by the time we had reached Dean, he had already broken the first seal. After 7 long and brutal years (Hell time), we had finally made it to him. I found him in a small room. There was screaming and crying. It was devastating.


	3. The Road Home

**The Road Home**

When I first lay my eyes on Dean, he was torturing a man who had made a deal with a demon to save his family from starvation. This man did not deserve what was being done to him, and Dean knew that. He had tears rolling down his face while tearing into this poor man. I felt personally responsible for his suffering because of the delay with Orobas. I wanted to save him as quickly as possible so, I gripped his soul and ran as fast as I could away from that place. Dean was very confused. He didn't know who or what I was. I told him my name was Castiel, and that I was an Angel of the Lord. He looked at me with disbelief and told me I couldn't possibly exist. Eventually he came to accept that I was real. It took about 1 year (Hell time) to escape from Hell. Over this time period, Dean and I grew very close. We became the very best of friends. I also learned a lot about him.

Dean Winchester was a simple man. He was born on January 24th, 1979 in Lawrence, Kansas. His mother was Mary Campbell, a retired hunter, his father was John Winchester, a mechanic and a hunter, and he had a little brother named Sam. Dean was four years old when his mother was killed by Azazel, aka the yellow eyed demon. (His father was later killed by the same demon. I guess this ran in the family). This was on the night his brother turned 6 months old. From that time onwards, he learned how to fight monsters and protect his brother. Dean was a big fan of classic rock music, wore an amulet given to him by Sam, and had an anti possession tattoo on his chest. He was afraid of flying, drove a black 1967 Chevy Impala, and would go to lengths as to sell his soul to save Sam.

The Winchesters were from the bloodline of the vessels of my brother Michael, the archangel and heaven's protector. Because of this, I learned why we needed to save Dean as quickly as possible. If he was Michael's vessel, and he was needed, then that meant that the apocalypse was coming. The apocalypse could only be started by a righteous man, that man being Dean Winchester. He would do this by breaking the first seal to opening Lucifer's cage. Once broken, it was only a matter of time before Lucifer walked free. We couldn't let him break the first of 66 seals. Once 66 seals were to be broken, Lucifer would walk free like he did 7 billion years before. Sadly, it was broken. The apocalypse was looming over us.

Once at the end of our journey through Hell, I told Dean about the process to fix him up and get him out. I told him that I would first repair his body, which was luckily buried instead of burned by Sam, and then I would grip his soul and put it back inside his body. I also told him that he would have a scar of my hand from wherever I would grip him. He told me he wanted something cool so I should grip his shoulder. Once everything was done and over with, I placed Dean's soul inside his body and watched him regain consciousness.

When Dean came to, he was yelling for help and struggling to breathe. I was confused. Why didn't he remember what we just talked about? I wanted to help him out of his 6 foot grave, but without a vessel, there was little I could do. I felt sorry for him. I watched as he dug his way through the dirt. He stood up and looked around. He later said it looked as if a bomb went off. I agreed. I tried to tell him that he did good, but he couldn't perceive my voice.

After a while he made it to a house. The man that owned this house was a man by the name of Bobby Singer. After a little bit of holy water and silver, Bobby knew it was Dean. They hugged. I could feel Dean's happiness. He hadn't been touched kindly in 40 years since he had been in Hell. Then he and Bobby went to find Sam. The holy water and silver was exchanged once again. Still I watched and waited intently for Dean to remember me. Why didn't he remember me?

I had returned to Heaven to tell Zachariah of our mission, leaving out a few important details, when I felt a sort of pulling sensation. I was being called to show myself in a small motel room by a woman named Pamela. Dean and co. was with her. What? Why didn't he remember? Had he forgotten about me? Did he know that we were friends? Did he even remember my name? As a result of his memory loss, I told her my name. But she wanted more. I was getting worried. She wanted to see me. I yelled no to her and tried to pull away, but it was too late. Pamela saw my true visage and it burnt her eyes out. Sadly, this happens to most people who see angels without a vessel.

Dean was furious. He still didn't know what I was, but he didn't care. He just wanted revenge for what I had done to Pamela. He and Bobby started setting traps all over an abandoned warehouse to trap and kill me. After what happened with my voice, I knew that if Dean were to summon me there without a vessel, Dean would too go blind. So I went to find a vessel.

When looking for a vessel, angels send out a message. Our message gets picked up only by the humans that are able to contain us. Once our message has been received and the human is willing to let us in, we enter into them and use their body as a way to walk the earth. After I had sent my message, I got a response. His name was Jimmy Novak. He was a devout man. He had a wife and a daughter. The perfect family. Luckily, he could perceive my voice. I told him that I needed his help and he had to test his faith by sticking his hand into a pot of boiling water. He did what I had commanded and said yes. I told him I would keep his family safe. Which proved to be a challenge a few years later, but I still stuck to my word.


	4. The Summoning

**The Summoning**

Dean and Bobby had finished the warehouse by the time I had gotten my vessel. So to pass the time, I sat just outside the warehouse doors and waited patiently for them to summon me. Maybe if Dean saw me, he would remember the great time we had together. For dramatic effect I waited approximately 27 seconds after I had been summoned to come through the doors. I couldn't contain my excitement. Lightening lit up the sky. The wind around swirled around me, whipping through my hair, swaying my trench coat. I burst through the doors and walked dramatically through all of their traps and made the lights explode. Sadly, I could tell that Dean still didn't remember me because while walking towards them, they shot me so full of rock salt, that I could feel it rolling around inside me. When I had reached them, Dean stabbed me with the demon killing knife of the kurds. The knife didn't hurt much, but the sadness of Dean's lost memories struck me very hard.

Dean was mad and scared. I was hurt, but I didn't want to let it show. He didn't know what I was. He demanded that I tell him. I was willing to answer any question he had because of our forgotten friendship. I then proceeded to tell him that I was the one who gripped him tight and raised him from perdition and that I was an Angel of the Lord. He didn't believe me. I told him he had no faith. When showing people our power, angels are allowed to grant them one miracle. Sometimes this act may be healing a sick person or touching their forehead and showing them visions of that we have done. In the case of Dean Winchester, lightning flashed within the warehouse and the shadow of my wings was shown unto him along with a vision of a memory of our time in Hell. The vision was of Dean and I laughing about one of his many jokes. (He never told anyone about this). He then realized that he knew me, but didn't remember me. When he asked why he was needed by heaven, Dean looked a bit sad. He didn't know why a glorious place like heaven needed an abomination like him. All I told him was that we had big plans for him. Then, I returned to heaven.


	5. Rising of the Witnesses

**Rising of the Witnesses**

Heaven was a collection of many different places. There were the hallways to the human's personal heavens, the offices, the training spaces. The good, the bad, and the ugly. But mostly, heaven was a curious place. The angels were full of curiosity. Not many of them got to go to earth. The ones that did were thoroughly questioned by the others. When I had first returned to heaven, I went to Zachariah and told him all about Dean Winchester. I told about his life, his family, and everything wonderful I had learned. I was just so happy to have met this man. While I was talking to him, Zachariah didn't seem pleased. As I went on with my findings about Dean, he was frowning. He eventually stopped me mid-sentence and told me not to get too attached (I was the "angel with too much heart" so I got attached very easily) because Dean would be gone soon. Gone? What did he mean by gone?

I left his office feeling a little sad and confused. Upon my entering into one of the many common spaces, I was bombarded by angels. Questions were being thrown at me. What was it like? What does earth look like now? Is it as amazing as others said it was? The room was filled with the buzz of curious angels. All of a sudden a silence filled the room. Ambriel, one of my brothers, asked me what the strange rolling sound was that was coming from my vessel. I told them that I had an unfortunate first re-meeting with Dean Winchester and that the sound was the sound of salt rolling around inside me. They looked confused, but continued with the questions anyway.

A few minutes later, I was called into Zachariah's office. Peering around the door, I could tell he was furious. I had already known the reason. After walking into the small room with my head down low, I found myself zapped into one of heaven's jail cells. Zachariah, as Dean would put it, was screaming his head off. He demanded to know how it was possible that one of the seals to opening Lucifer's cage was broken. When previously telling him about our mission to save Dean, I left out some very important details. Those being that we didn't get to Dean in time to save him from breaking the first seal because we smote an army for revenge. (I didn't tell him before because he would have put me in jail before I got the chance to meet up with Dean outside of Hell). The mistake of not getting to Dean in time was, and still will forever be, one of the biggest mistakes of my existence and I was ashamed. But now I was found out. My garrison and I, were to be locked in heaven's jail for Dad knows how long. As I sat there, in the cool, white marble cell, I thought of what life could have been for Dean Winchester of I had put aside my idea for revenge, and put him first. I still thought about it, even in my last days of existence. But sadly, there was nothing I could do. Lucifer was coming. And I was stuck in jail.

Down on earth, the one of the seals was broken. Spirits of innocent people that were killed while caught in the crossfire of a hunter and the evil they were hunting were rising from their graves to kill the hunter that had gotten them killed. The Winchesters and Bobby were on the list of some of the spirits. Spirits by the names of Victor Hendrickson, a former FBI officer, Meg Masters, a former college student, Ronald Resnick, a former alien enthusiast, and two little girls were hunting them down. I wanted to help, but I was stuck in heaven's jail. Luckily I had angel radio to listen in on how the 3 of them were doing. After fighting all day and nearly being killed by the spirits, they finished the spell and sent all the spirits away. Dean still didn't know how or why the spirits rose and killed all those people (He didn't remember when we talked about the seals while back in Hell). Even though I was trapped in my cell, I had still managed to communicate with Dean. I had waited till he was asleep and then appeared to him in a dream. When I first appeared to him, he demanded to know why I wasn't there to help them. Ashamed that I was in jail, I lied and said to him that I had bigger concerns. Then I told him that the demon Lilith had casted a spell that released the Witnesses. I also explained to him that this one one of 66 seals needed to release my brother Lucifer from Hell and that this was why angels had returned to earth. Then, he awoke only to find Sam eating breakfast.


	6. 1973

**1973**

Late one night, after I was finally let out of jail, I dropped in on Dean. I told him he had to stop it. He looked confused, but before he had the chance to ask any questions, I touched his forehead and sent him to Lawrence, Kansas in 1973. Dean furiously called out for me. He wanted to know what was going on and what I needed him to stop. I wouldn't come to answer his questions. If he knew what I had planned to do, he would be more infuriated than he already was. Dean stormed off into a cafe when he realized I wasn't coming back. This is where he realized where and when I had sent him. There he had met a man who turned out to be his father, John Winchester.

After he left the cafe, Dean was thinking of leaving town since he had no clue what he was doing in Lawrence in 1973. To stop him, I appeared to him again and told him that he had to stop something, while pointing to his father. Worried that something was after his dad, Dean followed John to a used car lot. This is where Dean suggested that John should buy a black 1967 Chevy Impala. Dean proceeded to question his father about any strange smells or events. Satisfied that nothing was after John, yet, Dean let him leave. Knowing that John's safety would last very long, he followed close behind.

Dean had been watching John's house for hours. Watching John was tiring for him, but it was not tiring for me to watch Dean. I had been in heaven's jail for a long time, and frankly, many times. When in heaven's jail, time is slowed, so if I were in there for a week real world time, it would be closer to a month for me. I had been sitting in there for 4 months (jail time). I was glad to be out. Since I was in solitary confinement for so long, I enjoyed even the simplest activities. This included watching Dean Winchester invisibly from the passenger seat next to him. After a while, Dean got impatient. There was nothing to suggest that anything was coming for his family. About to turn back to find a motel, Dean had spotted John and a blonde woman go out to the Impala and drive off. Following them, we found ourselves outside of a little restaurant watching John and his mother, Mary. Bored out of his mind from the hours of watching, Dean decided to take a break. A few seconds of not watching his parents wouldn't hurt. Reaching into his pocket, Dean took out his phone, checking for a signal for the billionth time that day. I was on the roof, watching his expression. I could tell he was worried about Sam. A few moments later, I had heard, "Cas. What the hell am I supposed to be stopping? There's nothing here but milkshakes and Stevie Wonder hits." I didn't respond. I couldn't let him know. Annoyed that I didn't answer, Dean turned around to find himself face to face with Mary. She attacked him and asked why he was following her and John. Noticing a devil's trap charm bracelet on her wrist, Dean realized that his mother had been a hunter. Words were exchanged between the two and Mary concluded that it was okay for Dean to meet her at her house later that night.

I returned to heaven after Dean followed Mary home. Ever since I lied about our smiting expedition for revenge in hell, Zachariah made me return to heaven daily to check in. Not wishing to face Zachariah just to be yelled at for no reason, I told Ezekiel, one of my brothers, to tell Zachariah that everything was going fine, just as planned. Confused, Ezekiel complied and went off to him. When Ezekiel disappeared and I had turned to leave, I found myself face to face with Zachariah. He was furious, as usual, and demanded that I stay in confinement for a few hours for trying to defy his orders. I pleaded with him to let me help Dean because he would be in trouble soon, but he didn't listen. It's almost as if he wanted what was about to unfold to happen. Looking up from my thoughts, found myself in my lonely cell once again.

A few hours later, a lot longer for me, I heard the door being unlocked. Someone came to free me from this place and I could finally go help Dean. The guard turned the keys to my cell and let me out. He and I grew close these past few arrests. I learned that he had a pretty good understanding of human humor. Sometimes during my stay in a cell, he would sneak in and tell me jokes. I was very grateful for that. Following behind the guard to the exit, I realized we were getting closer to Cell 1. Since the beginning of time, Cell 1 has been occupied. I have walked past that cell many times, but I have never recognized the angel that calls it home. This time, when I walked by, the angel grabbed my arm through the bars. "Hello, Castiel." A chill ran down my back. Startled by this stranger, I asked who he was, for I could not recognize him. My eyes widened with terror when he told me. Gadreel, the angel who caused the fall of man, was holding my arm. I tried to back away, but it was no use. He had an iron grip on my arm and he was older and a lot stronger than me. With a voice just above a whisper, he said to me, "You have to stop him…" Stop who? Before I could ask him what he meant, the guard realized I was missing and came back for me. Seeing Gadreel, who hadn't spoken in centuries, with a grip on my arm, the guard immediately took me to Zachariah. When in his office, Zachariah was talking to another angel about increasing heaven's squadrons. Angrily, he asked why the guard had brought me there and interrupted his meeting. The guard only responded with, "He spoke." and then vanished. Knowing exactly what this meant, he demanded that I told him what Gadreel said. I replied that he said I needed to stop him. "Stop who?" Zachariah demanded. I told him I didn't get a name. With a worried, almost scared look on his face, he told me to leave and never speak to Gadreel again. When I turned to leave, Zachariah caught my arm and gave me a crumpled slip of paper and told me to tell Dean to go here immediately.

When I returned to earth, so much had happened. Dean had caught a case involving the yellow-eyed-demon. This lead to him learning about the demon blood and this lead to a series of events that ultimately caused the deaths of Mary's family and John. Using Mary's grief against her, the demon made a deal with her to bring John back. All he wanted was a little something in 10 years. I appeared next to Dean, who was distressed that he had just missed the shot of killing the demon and saving his family. I was deeply sorry I wasn't there to help. I zapped us both back to the present. Furiously, Dean asked why I wasn't there to help him. Ashamed about what I had just gone through, I told him he had to do this alone. Dean thought he had failed to stop whatever he was supposed to stop. I told him I lied and that there wasn't anything to stop. That what had just happened was destiny and it couldn't be changed. I told him the reason for doing this was that I only wanted him to know the whole truth about his family and the demon blood. The angels needed to know what Azazel's endgame was, but we didn't figure that out either. I then informed Dean that Sam was headed down a dangerous road and he needed to be stopped, while handing him the crumpled slip of paper with an address on it.

After returning to heaven, I remembered what Gadreel had said to me. "You have to stop him…" Me? Stop who? It was then when I realized what Dean felt like earlier that day. But it also made me very uneasy. There were rumors in heaven dating back to the beginning of time that Gadreel was somewhat psychic. If Gadreel, who hadn't spoken in centuries, had suddenly found the need to tell me, a slowly falling angel, to stop someone, then that meant whatever he was talking about was very, very bad.


	7. UPDATE

Hey guys! I am SO sorry about chapter 7. Its been nearly a month and I haven't posted it. The thing is, I had some trouble writing it. I had it finished at the end of May, but my computer crashed before I could save it. I started rewriting it, but this week I have finals. You won't have to wait much longer! It will be up by next weekend for sure!

Thanks for all your patience!  
-kscan


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